At the University of Jena, a lecture hall has been occupied by students for almost a week. The young people let a deadline from the university management pass. Now the management of the university is making them an offer.
Jena (dpa/th) - In order to end the occupation of a lecture hall at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, the university management wants to offer the students another room. If the students who are protesting against the planned abolition of the chair in gender history leave the occupied hall, they could use a seminar room to organize themselves, a spokeswoman for the university told the German Press Agency on Tuesday. The university management actually wanted to make this offer to the young people verbally, but were not given the right to speak at a student meeting. Therefore, the proposal will now be submitted in writing.
The students had previously ignored an official request from the university to end the occupation by Tuesday, 12 noon. According to the university's previous plans, the chair for gender history is to be abolished in 2025.
If the students do not leave the lecture hall, according to the spokeswoman, it is unclear what will happen next. The university management will still consult on this, including with the police. The question will also be to what extent the action is covered by the freedom of assembly "and when something like this becomes trespassing," said the spokeswoman.
A representative of the students said that after a vote in the lecture hall, the representatives of the university management were not given the right to speak because they were not prepared to answer questions from the audience. So far there are no plans to end the occupation of the lecture hall. "I think we're going to stay in here for now," he said. Nevertheless, one wants to hold further talks with the university management and is willing to negotiate.
The university management signaled that they wanted to ensure that gender history could still be studied in Jena after 2025. For example, seminars on teaching assignments could be offered.
